Posts Tagged ‘zBX’

Do you remember what the mainframe was like when you started on the mainframe career path? Today IBM blurs distinctions between the mainframe and distributed environments through Linux and Java as well as cloud and mobile delivery models. Heck, you can run Windows natively on x86 cards in a zBX cabinet managed from a console on the z itself. Maybe it’s not the most efficient way to do it and expect better ways coming from IBM, but it is doable now.

DevOps in the SDLC, Courtesy Seasoft

More than just interact, the z and distributed environment must productively and seamlessly integrate and interoperate to produce a streamlined development, test, and deployment process. Compounding the challenge: they must do it fast. Organizations can no longer wait for six-month or nine-month release cycles to introduce new capabilities. If capabilities cannot be introduced in just a few weeks max, opportunities and revenue can be lost. Agile and batch teams have no choice; they must work together.

This calls for data center adoption of DevOps, a combination of development, testing, and operations. Already IBM has instituted DevOps on the z System. The idea of bringing agile and batch together—it almost sounds like an oxymoron or the punchline from a bad computer systems joke—no longer is farfetched. Welcome to the world of hybrid computing where what was once considered disparate and incompatible systems are being brought together, often on the same platform.

The latest generations of the mainframes have been fully hybrid-capable platforms, starting with the z10. They are capable of running mixed workloads concurrently, some of which previously belonged in the distributed platform world only. Today, a mainframe shop with the latest z13 can run traditional z/OS COBOL workloads right alongside Java and Linux workloads. Those with a zBX extension cabinet can even run Windows workloads too under the same unified mainframe management console.

So now the idea of bringing batch and agile computing together on the mainframe platform doesn’t seem so farfetched. And it won’t stop there. IBM has been doing its enterprise thing with Apple for about a year. Expect more coming.

That said; an agile mainframe/distributed DevOps environment will become increasingly necessary. How often do you release software? Previously, if an IT organization released new software every year or even every 18 months customers were satisfied. Not anymore. Today you can’t wait six months before the organization risks falling behind. LOB managers and customers won’t wait. There are too many competitors waiting for any chance to seize an advantage. Slow system refreshes and software updates just play into these competitors’ hands.

DevOps also is essential to the organization’s mobile strategy. Companies in every industry segment are deploying new mobile apps as fast as they can and then almost immediately updating them. For many of these mobile apps the mainframe is the back end, if not the middleware too. Each mobile request for information or to make a purchase or to schedule something triggers numerous back end processes that quickly make their way to the mainframe. It had gotten to the point where IBM had to discount mobile processing on the z or it would hinder mobile growth. DancingDinosaur covered it here.

Helping to drive mobile on the z, of course, is IBM’s relationship with Apple. Over the past year the two companies have been bringing out combined enterprise-mobile applications. Now Apple just announced that it is making its popular programming language, Swift, open source. It shouldn’t take much to get it onto Bluemix. Back in Sept. 2014 IBM announced it already had a preliminary version working through Bluemix.

Although Swift is known mainly for mobile client development, today it is described as combining the performance and efficiency of compiled languages with the simplicity and interactivity of popular scripting languages. Apple’s Swift strategy seems coming right out of IBM’s recent playbook of embracing open source communities. You can get started at the Swift website, here.

DancingDinosaur is Alan Radding, a veteran information technology analyst and writer. Please follow DancingDinosaur on Twitter, @mainframeblog. See more of his IT writing at technologywriter.com and here.

DancingDinosaur can’t attend a mainframe conference without checking out at least one session on mainframe software pricing by David Chase, IBM’s mainframe pricing guru. At IBM Enterprise2014, which wraps up today, the topic of choice was software licensing for Linux middleware. It’s sufficiently complicated to merit an entire session.

In case you think Linux on z is not in your future, maybe you should think again. Linux is gaining momentum in even the largest z data centers. Start with IBM bringing new apps like InfoSphere, BigInsights (Hadoop), and OpenStack to z. Then there are apps from ISVs that just weren’t going to get their offerings to z/OS. Together it points to a telltale sign something is happening with Linux on z. And, the queasiness managers used to have about the open source nature of Linux has long been put to rest.

At some point, you will need to think about IBM’s software pricing for Linux middleware. Should you find yourself getting too lost in the topic, check out these links recommended by Chase:

To begin, software for Linux on z is treated differently than traditional mainframe software in terms of pricing. With Linux on z you think in terms of IFLs. The quantity of IFLs represent the number of Linux engines subjected to IBM’s IPLA-based pricing.

Also think in terms of Processor Value Units (PVUs) rather than MSUs. For a pricing purposes, PVUs are analogous to MSUs although the values are different. A key point to keep in mind: distributed PVUs for Linux are not related to System z IPLA value units used for z/VM products. As is typical of IBM, those two different kinds of value units are NOT interchangeable.

Chase, however, provides a few ground rules:

Dedicated partition

Processors are always allocated in whole increments

Resources are only moved between partitions “explicitly” (e.g. by an operator or a scheduled job)

Shared pool:

Pool of processors shared by partitions (including virtual machines)

System automatically dispatches processor resources between partitions as needed

Maximum license requirements

Customer does not have to purchase more licenses for a product than the number of processors on the machine (e.g. maximum DB2 UDB licenses on a 12-way machine is 12)

Customer does not have to purchase more “shared pool” licenses for a product than the number of processors assigned to the shared pool (e.g. maximum of 7 MQSeries licenses for a shared pool with 7 processors). Note: This limit does not affect the additional licenses that might be required for dedicated partitions.

Any difference for different processor technologies (p, i, x, z, Sun, HP, AMD, etc—notice that the z is just one of many choices, not handled differently from the others

Number of processor cores which must be licensed (z calls them IFLs)

Price per PVU (constant per product, not different based upon technology)

Then it becomes a case of doing the basic arithmetic. The formula: # of PVUs x the # of cores required x the value ($) per core = your total cost. Given this formula it is to your advantage to plan your Linux use to minimize IFLs and cores. You can’t do anything about the cost per PVU.

Distributed PVUs are the basis for licensing middleware on IFLs and are determined by the type of machine processor. The zEC12, z196, and z10 are rated at 120 PVUs. All others are rated at 100 PVUs. For example, any distributed middleware running on Linux on z this works out to:

z114—1IFL, 100 PVUs

z196—4IFLs, 480 PVUs

zEC12—8 IFLs, 960 PVUs

Also, distributed systems Linux middleware offerings are eligible for sub-capacity licensing. Specifically, sub-capacity licensing is available for all PVU-priced software offerings that run on:

UNIX (AIX, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris

i5/OS, OS/400

Linux (System i, System p, System z)

x86 (VMware ESX Server, VMware GSX Server, Microsoft Virtual Server)

IBM’s virtualization technologies also are included in Passport Advantage sub-capacity licensing offering, including LPAR, z/VM virtual machines in an LPAR, CPU Pooling support introduced in z/VM 6.3 APAR VM65418, and native z/VM (on machines which still support basic mode).

And in true z style, since this can seem more complicated than it should seem, there are tools available to do the job. In fact Chase doesn’t advise doing this without a tool. The current tool is the IBM License Metric Tool V9.0.1. You can find more details on it here.

If you are considering distributed Linux middleware software or are already wrestling with the pricing process, DancingDinosaur recommends you check out Chase’s links at the top of this piece. Good luck.

DancingDinosaur is Alan Radding. Follow DancingDinosaur on Twitter, @mainframeblog. You can check out more of my work at Technologywriter.com

Back in February, DancingDinosaur started writing about the upcoming Mainframe50 celebration. Now we’re just one week away from what will be a nearly year-long celebration, introductions of new mainframe advances, and more. It all starts on Tues., April 8 in New York City.

You can join through Livestream for the event and news briefing. Just click here and join in from wherever you are virtually.

Or you can register to attend the event by clicking here. DancingDinosaur will be there and plans to file a report later that day on this blog and also be tweeting throughout all the Mainframe50 events. Follow it all on Twitter, @mainframeblog.

Later this week, DancingDinosaur will be posting the latest in a series of reports from Edge 2014, being held in Las Vegas, May 19-23. There is still time to register and get a discount. You can find DancingDinosaur there in the Bloggers Lounge after sessions, keynotes, and the Sheryl Crow concert.

The mainframe turns 50 years old this year and the many pundits and experts who predicted it would be long gone by now must be scratching their heads. Yes, it is still around and has acquired over 260 new accounts just since zEnterprise launch. It also has shipped over 320 hybrid computing units (not to be confused with zBX chassis only) since the zBX was introduced and kicked off hybrid mainframe computing.

As for MIPS, although IBM experienced a MIPS decline last quarter that follows the largest MIPS shipment in mainframe history a year ago resulting in a 2-year CGR of +11%. (Mainframe sales follow the new product release cycle in a predictable pattern.) IBM brought out the last System z release, the zEC12, faster than the mainframe’s historic release cycle. Let’s hope IBM repeats the quick turnaround with the next release.

Delivered steady price/performance improvements with each release. And with entry-level BC-class pricing and the System z Solution Edition programs you can end up with a mainframe system that is as competitive or better than x86-based systems while being more secure and more reliable out of the box.

Adopted Linux early, before it had gained the widespread acceptance it has today. Last year over three-quarters of the top 100 enterprises had IFLs installed. This year IBM reports a 31% increase in IFL MIPS. In at least two cases where DancingDinosaur recently interviewed IT managers, Linux on z was instrumental in bringing their shops to the mainframe.

Supported for SOA, Java, Web services, and cloud, mobile, and social computing continues to put the System z at the front of the hot trends. It also prominently plays with big data and analytics. Who ever thought that the mainframe would be interacting with RESTful APIs? Certainly not DancingDinosaur’s computer teacher back in the dark ages.

Continued delivery of unprecedented scalability, reliability, and security at a time when the volumes of transactions, data, workloads, and users are skyrocketing. (IDC predicts millions of apps, billions of users, and trillions of things connected by 2020.)

Built a global System z ecosystem of tools and technologies to support cloud, mobile, big data/analytics, social and non-traditional mainframe workloads. This includes acquisitions like SoftLayer and CSL Wave to deliver IBM Wave for z/VM, a simplified and cost effective way to harness the consolidation capabilities of the IBM System z platform along with its ability to host the workloads of tens of thousands of commodity servers. The mainframe today can truly be a fully fledged cloud player.

And that just touches on the mainframe platform advantages. While others boast of virtualization capabilities, the mainframe comes 100% virtualized out of the box with virtualization at every level. It also comes with a no-fail redundant architecture and built-in networking.

Hybrid computing is another aspect of the mainframe that organizations are just beginning to tap. Today’s multi-platform compound workloads are inherently hybrid, and the System z can manage the entire multi-platform workload from a single console.

The mainframe anniversary celebration, called Mainframe50, officially kicks off in April but a report from the Pulse conference suggests that Mainframe50 interest already is ramping up. A report from Pulse 2014 this week suggests IBM jumped the gun by emphasizing how the z provides new ways never before thought possible to innovate while tackling challenges previously out of reach.

Pulse 2014, it turns out, offered 38 sessions on System z topics, of which 27 will feature analysts or IBM clients. These sessions promise to address key opportunities and challenges for today’s mainframe environments and the latest technology solutions for meeting them, including OMEGAMON, System Automation, NetView, GDPS, Workload Automation Tivoli Asset Discovery for z/OS and Cloud.

One session featured analyst Phil Murphy, Vice President and Principal Analyst from Forrester Research, discussing the critical importance of a robust infrastructure in a mixed mainframe/distributed cloud environment—which is probably the future most DancingDinosaur readers face—and how it can help fulfill the promise of value for cloud real time.

Another featured mainframe analyst Dot Alexander from Wintergreen Research who looked at how mainframe shops view executing cloud workloads on System z. The session focused on the opportunities and challenges, private and hybrid cloud workload environments, and the impact of scalability, standards, and security.

But the big celebration is planned for April 8 in NYC. There IBM promises to make new announcements, launch new research projects, and generally focus on the mainframe’s future. A highlight promises to be Showcase 20, which will focus on 20 breakthrough areas referred to by IBM as engines of progress. The event promises to be a sellout; you should probably talk to your System z rep if you want to attend. And it won’t stop on April 8. IBM expects to continue the Mainframe50 drumbeat all year with new announcements, deliverables, and initiatives. Already in February alone IBM has made a slew of acquisitions and cloud announcements that will touch every mainframe shop with any cloud interests (which should be every mainframe shop at one point or another).

In coming weeks stay tuned to DancingDinosaur for more on Mainframe50. Also watch this space for details of the upcoming Edge 2014 conference, with an emphasis on infrastructure innovation coming to Las Vegas in May.

There is no doubt that the zEnterprise enables hybrid computing. Just attach a zBX to it and start plugging in Linux and x86 blades; presto, you’ve got hybrid computing. You can manage this entire hybrid infrastructure via the Unified Resource Manager.

The zEnterprise also has a sister hybrid computing platform, IBM PureSystems. Here, too, you can add in System x and Linux or even Power and System i and do hybrid computing. You can also manage the hybrid environment through a single console, albeit a different console—the Flex System Manager—and manage this second IBM hybrid platform as a unified environment. DancingDinosaur has noted the irony of IBM having two different, incompatible hybrid systems; IBM has reassured this blogger several times that it is trying to converge the two. Whenever it happens DancingDinosaur will be the first to report it.

The zEnterprise or even PureSystems as a hybrid computing platform, however, is not the same as a hybrid data center. Apparently there is no definition of a hybrid data center despite all the talk about hybrid computing, hybrid clouds, and hybrid systems. As best DancingDinosaur can piece it together, the hybrid data center is multiplatform like the zEnterprise, but it also is multi-location, often using co-location facilities or factory-built containerized data centers (IBM calls them Portable Modular Data Centers, PMDC). More often, however, hybrid data centers are associated with cloud computing as the third of the three flavors of cloud (private, public, hybrid).

Gartner recently described some architecture options for a hybrid data center. In one case you could have a zEnterprise acting as, say, a private cloud using a co-location facility as a DMZ between the private cloud and a public cloud like Amazon. Not sure, however, you would need the DMZ if your private cloud was running on the highly secure zEnterprise but Gartner included it. Go figure.

Hybrid showed up in numerous Enterprise 2013 sessions this past October. You can catch some video highlights from it here. The conference made frequent mention of hybrid in numerous sessions, some noted in previous DancingDinosaur posts, such as Exploring the World of zEnterprise Hybrid: How Does It Work and What’s the Point? The session introduced the Unified Resource Manager and described how it would allow an IT shop to manage a collection of one or more zEnterprise nodes including any optionally attached zBX cabinets as a single logical virtualized system through a Hardware Management Console (HMC). In short, it was about providing a single point of control through which data center personnel can deploy, configure, monitor, manage and maintain the integrated System z and zBX blades based on heterogeneous architectures in a unified manner. But it wasn’t talking about the hybrid enterprise data center described in the previous paragraph.

Similarly, Application Performance Management and Capacity Planning for the IBM zEnterprise Hybrid Workload focused on extending the Unified Resource Manager to goal-oriented performance management for both traditional System z and BladeCenter applications. It was about applying WLM, RMF, and Platform Performance Management to cross-platform hybrid applications. Again, this really wasn’t about the hybrid data center described above.

BTW, plans apparently already are underway for Enterprise 2014. Looks like it will be Oct. 6-10 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. It should be quite an event given that IBM will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the mainframe in 2014.

And there is much more on z hybrid computing and hybrid clouds. The zEnterprise has its own page on cloud computing here, and last month the zEnterprise zBC12 won CRN Tech Innovator Award for the most Innovative cloud solution. You can also click here to see how a dozen IBM customers used various IBM platforms to build hybrid clouds.

IBM has already used the zEnterprise to consolidate over 30,000 servers around the world for an 84% improvement in data center efficiency and a 50% reduction in power and cooling. This effectively freed $1 billion to spend on innovative new projects that drive business growth across the company. And IBM is about as hybrid a data center as you can find.

The HP announcement earlier this week wasn’t specifically the death knell for Itanium-based systems, but it just as well might have been. Rather, HP disclosed plans to extend the HP NonStop architecture to the Intel x86 platform. With NonStop to be available on x86 servers, why would anyone even consider the Itanium platform?

Meanwhile, at an IBM analyst briefing at Enterprise 2013 and again this week, IBM rattled off growth figures for the zEnterprise: 56% MIPS growth and 6% revenue growth year-to-year, over 230 new z accounts since the introduction of the hybrid zEnterprise, and over 290 hybrid computing devices shipped including over 200 zBX cabinets. Linux on z continues to penetrate the mainframe world with 80% of the top 100 mainframe enterprises having IFLs installed. But maybe the best sign of the vitality of the zEnterprise was the news that 33 new ISVs brought product to the z platform in 3Q2013.

Another sign of zEnterprise vitality: over 65,000 students entered the Master the Mainframe competition in the last 8 years. In addition, over 1000 universities are teaching curriculum related to mainframe topics. Are you worried that you will not be able to find mainframe talent going forward? You probably never thought that the mainframe would be cool.

Recruiters from Cigna, Fidelity, JP Morgan Chase, Baldor, Dillars, Wal-mart, and more have been actively recruiting at schools participating in the Academic Initiative. For example, a senior business leader for switching systems at Visa described the Academic Initiative as a critical success factor and a lifeline for the company’s future.

With regard to the Itanium platform, HP’s announcement is more about trying to salvage the NonStop operating system than to save the Itanium server business. “Extending HP NonStop to an x86 server platform shows a deep level of investment in maintaining the NonStop technology for mission-critical workloads in financial markets, telecommunications and other industries. At the same time, it brings new levels of availability to the x86-based standardized data center infrastructure,” said Jean Bozman, IDC research VP in the HP announcement.

Certainly for those organizations that require continuous operations on x86 the HP move will be a boon. Otherwise, high availability on x86 has always been something of a kluge. But don’t expect HP to get anything running overnight. This is just the latest step in a multi-year HP effort underway since 2011, and it will probably be another two years before everything gets ported and fully tested. HP promises to help customers with migration.

DancingDinosaur’s advice to NonStop customers that are frustrated by the underwhelming performance of Itanium systems today: Jump to the zEnterprise, either zEC12 or zBC12. You are almost certain to qualify for one of the deeply discounted System z Solution Edition deals (includes hardware, software, middleware, and 3 years of maintenance). And something like IBM’s Migration Factory can help you get there. If it has taken HP two years to get this far, you can probably be up and running on z long before they get the first lines of NonStop code ported to x86.

Meanwhile, the System z team hasn’t been twiddling their collective thumbs. In addition to introducing the zBC12 in July (shipped in Sept.) and absorbing the CSL International acquisition, which should prove quite valuable in z cloud initiatives, there has been a new IBM Entry Cloud Configuration for SAP Solutions on zEnterprise, a version of IBM Cognos TM1 for financial planning, and improved enterprise key management capabilities based on the Crypto Analytics Tool and the Advanced Crypto Services Provider.

System z growth led the enterprise server pack in the Gartner and IDC quarterly tabulations. Ironically, HP did well too with worldwide server shipments growing by more than 5% in the third quarter, halting a slump of eight consecutive quarters of shipment declines, according to preliminary market data from Gartner. Still, DancingDinosaur doesn’t think anyone will miss Itanium.

The zBX hasn’t been subject to much in the way of big new announcements this year. Maybe the most obvious was a quiet announcement that the zBX would connect to the zBC12, the newest System z machine announced early in the summer. Buried deeply in that July announcement was that starting in Sept. 2013 you could attach the IBM zBX Model 003 to the new machine. Machines older than the zEC12 would need the zBX Model 002.

At Enterprise 2013, however, the zBX managed to grab a little of the spotlight in a session by Harv Emery titled IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension Model 3 and Model 2 Deep Dive Update. OK, it’s not exactly a riveting title, but Emery’s 60 slides were packed with far more detail than can possibly fit here.

To summarize: a slew of software and firmware updates will be coming through the end of this year and into 2014. Similarly, starting next year and beyond, IBM will begin to stop marketing older zBX hardware and eventually stop supporting the older stuff. This is standard IBM practice; what makes it surprising is the realization that the zBX no longer is the new kid on the scene. PureSystems in their various iterations are the sexy newcomer. As of the end of last year somewhat over 200 z hybrid units (zBX cabinets) had been sold along with considerably more blades. Again, PureSystems are IBM’s other hybrid platform.

Continued efforts by zEnterprise and STG to leverage the Tivoli portfolio to deliver enterprise-wide management capabilities across all STG systems

DancingDinosaur periodically has been asked questions about how to handle storage for the zBX and the blades it contains. Emery tried to address some of those. Certain blades, DataPower for example, now come with their own storage and don’t need to any outside storage on the host z. Through the top of the rack switch in the zBX you can connect to a distributed SAN.

Finally, Emery made numerous references to Unified Resource Manager (or zManager, although it manages more than z) for the zBX and Flex System Manager for PureSystems. Right now IBM tries to bridge the two systems with higher level management from Tivoli. Another possibility, Emery hinted, is OpenStack to unify hybrid management. Sounds very intriguing, especially given IBM’s announced intention to make extensive use of OpenStack. Is there an interoperable OpenStack version of Unified Resource Manager and Flex System Manager in the works?

IBM announced a lot of goodies for z and Power users at Enterprise 2013 wrapping up in Orlando today. There were no blockbuster announcements, like a new z machine—we’re probably 12-18 months away from that and even then the first will likely focus on Power8—but it brought a slew of announcements nonetheless. For a full rundown on what was announced click here.

Cloud and analytics—not surprisingly—loom large. For example, Hadoop and a variety of other capabilities have been newly cobbled together, integrated, optimized, and presented as new big data offerings or as new cloud solutions. This was exemplified by a new Cognos offering for CFOs needing to create, analyze and manage sophisticated financial plans that can provide greater visibility into enterprise profitability or the lack thereof.

Another announcement featured a new IBM Entry Cloud Configuration for SAP on zEnterprise. This is a cloud-enablement offering combining high-performance technology and services to automate, standardize and accelerate day-to-day SAP operations for reduced operational costs and increased ROI. Services also were big at the conference.

Kicking off the event was a dive into data center economics by Steve Mills, Senior Vice President & Group Executive, IBM Software & Systems. Part of the challenge of optimizing IT economics, he noted, was that the IT environment is cumulative. Enterprises keep picking up more systems, hardware and software, as new needs arise but nothing goes away or gets rationalized in any meaningful way.

Between 2000 and 2010, Mills noted, servers had grown at a 6x rate while storage grew at a 69x rate. Virtual machines, meanwhile, were multiplying at the rate of 42% per year. Does anyone see a potential problem here?

Mills’ suggestion: virtualize and consolidate. Specifically, large servers are better for consolidation. His argument goes like this: Most workloads experience variance in demand. But when you consolidate workloads with variance on a virtualized server the variance of the sum is less due to statistical multiplexing (which fits workloads into the gaps created by the variances). Furthermore, the more workloads you can consolidate, the smaller the variance of the sum. His conclusion: bigger servers with capacity to run more workloads can be driven to higher average utilization levels without violating service level agreements, thereby reducing the cost per workload. Finally, the larger the shared processor pool is the more statistical benefit you get.

On the basis of statistical multiplexing, the zEnterprise and the Power 795 are ideal choices for this. Depending on your workloads, just load up the host server, a System z or a big Power box, with as many cores as you can afford and consolidate as many workloads as practical.

Mills’ other cost savings tips: use flash to avoid the cost and complexity of disk storage. Also, eliminate duplicate applications—the fewer you run, the lower the cost. In short, elimination is the clearest path to saving money in the data center.

To illustrate the point, Jim Tussing from Nationwide described how the company virtualized and consolidated 60% on their 10,500 servers on a few mainframes and saved $46 million over five years. It also allowed the company to delay the need for an additional data center for 4 years.

See, if DancingDinosaur was an actual data center manager it could have justified attendance at the entire conference based on the economic tips from just one of the opening keynotes and spent the rest of the conference playing golf. Of course, DancingDinosaur doesn’t play golf so it sat in numerous program sessions instead, which you will hear more about in coming weeks.

The Enterprise 2013 conference next week in Orlando is sold out! However, you can still participate and learn from the session through Livestream, which starts Monday morning (8am ET) with two IBM senior VPs; Tom Rosamilia, followed by Steve Mills. On Tuesday Livestream sessions start at 10:30am ET. Check out the full Livestream schedule here.

Let’s expand on the social business topics to be covered at the conference. Building a Social Environment in an Enterprise Private Cloud looks at the advantages of building a social environment in an on-premise private cloud, exploiting System z where practical. The hybrid System z models seem particularly well suited for this, and the TCO should be quite favorable. Daily Business can Profit from Social Networks for System z looks at how to exploit social on the z to keep current with news and events of importance to the organization and its customers through Twitter and other social networks. Finally, Gaining Competitive Advantage with Social Business separates the social hype from the facts. The session keys in on utilizing social business relationships to help you achieve competitive advantages.

DancingDinosaur has long considered Linux on z as the single most important thing IBM did to save the mainframe from a future as a niche product serving mainly big banks and financial services firms. Today, the mainframe is the center of a hybrid computing world that can do anything business strategists want to do—mobile, cloud, open systems, Linux, Windows. Linux, the key to that, has been slow to catch on, but it is steadily gaining traction. At Enterprise 2013 you can see, to paraphrase a movie title starring Clint Eastwood; The Good, the Great, and the Ugly of Linux on System z.

Linux on System z: Controlling the Proliferating Penguin presents Mike Riggs, Manager of Systems and Database Administration at the Supreme Court of Virginia, sharing his experiences leveraging the power of Linux on System z by utilizing WebSphere, DB2, Oracle, and Java applications in concert with the longstanding success of z/VM, z/VSE, CICS applications, and other platform systems. He will explain how a funds-limited judicial branch of a state government is leveraging all possible resources to manage, grow, and support statewide judicial application systems.

What’s New with Linux on System z provides an overview of Linux on System z. It will show Linux as a very active open source project and offer insight into what makes Linux so special. It also looks at both the latest and as well as upcoming features of the Linux kernel and what these features can do for you.

From there, you can attend the session on Why Linux on System z Saves $$, which will help you build the business case for Linux on z. The presenter, Buzz Woeckener, Director of IT at Nationwide Insurance, will pepper you with facts, disprove some myths, and help you understand why Linux on System z is one of the best values in the marketplace today. DancingDinosaur has written on Nationwide’s Linux on z experience before; it is a great story.

Finally, here’s the ugly: Murphy’s Law Meets VM and Linux on System z. Murphy’s law observes that whatever can go wrong possibly (or probably, depending on your level of pessimism) will go wrong. This can also be the case in some unfortunate Linux on System z and z/VM proof of concepts or improperly configured production systems. Having been called into a number of these situations over the last couple of years, the speaker brings a lot of experience handling these problems. Where some sessions highlight successes, this one will present stories from the battlefield on what it took to get these projects back on track. It will show the mistakes and draw the lessons learned.

Plus there is networking, security, systems management, big data and analytics, development, and more. For those lucky enough to get space, you won’t be at a loss for what to do next. DancingDinosaur will there Sunday through Thursday. If you see me, please feel welcome to introduce yourself.

Just the storage-related sessions are wide ranging, from DFSM, which DancingDinosaur covered a few weeks back following the SHARE Boston event here, to the IBM Flash portfolio, System z Flash Express, dynamically provisioning Linux on z storage, capacity management, and more. For storage newcomers, there even is a two-part session on System z Storage Basics.

A storage session titled the Evolution of Space Management looks interesting. After the advent of System Managed Storage (SMS), the mainframe went decades without much change in the landscape of space management processing. Space management consisted of the standard three-tier hierarchy of Primary Level 0 and the two Migration tiers, Migration Level 1 (disk) and Migration Level 2 (tape).This session examines recent advances in both tape and disk technologies that have dramatically changed that landscape and provided new opportunities for managing data on the z. Maybe they will add a level above primary called flash next year. This session will cover how the advances are evolving the space management hierarchy and what to consider when determining which solutions are best for your environment.

IBM has been going hog-wild with flash, the TMS acquisition playing no small part no doubt. Any number of sessions deal with flash storage. This one, IBM’s Flash Portfolio and Futures, seems particularly appealing. It takes a look at how IBM has acquired and improved upon flash technology over what amounts to eight generations technology refinements. The session will look at how flash will play a major role across not only IBM’s storage products but IBM’s overall solution portfolio. Flash technology is changing the way companies are managing their data today and it is changing the way they understand and manage the economics of technology. This session also will cover how IBM plans to leverage flash in its roadmap moving forward.

Hybrid computing is another phenomenon that has swept over the z in recent years. For that reason this session looks especially interesting, Exploring the World of zEnterprise Hybrid: How Does It Work and What’s the Point? The IBM zEnterprise hybrid system introduces the Unified Resource Manager, allowing an IT shop to manage a collection of one or more zEnterprise nodes, including an optionally attached zBX loaded with blades for different platforms, as a single logical virtualized system through a single mainframe console. The mainframe can now act as the primary point of control through which data center personnel can deploy, configure, monitor, manage, and maintain the integrated System z and zBX blades based on heterogeneous architectures but in a unified manner. It amounts to a new world of blades and virtual servers with the z at the center of it.

Maybe one of the hardest things for traditional z data center managers to get their heads around is social business on the mainframe. But here it is: IBM DevOps Solution: Accelerating the Delivery of Multiplatform Applications looks at social business and mobile along with big data, and cloud technologies as driving the demand for faster approaches to software delivery across all platforms, middleware, and devices. The ultimate goal is to push out more features in each release and get more releases out the door with confidence, while maintaining compliance and quality. To succeed, some cultural, process, and technology gaps must be addressed through tools from Rational.

IBM has even set itself up as a poster child for social business in another session, Social Business and Collaboration at IBM, which features the current deployment within IBM of its social business and collaboration environments. Major core components are currently deployed on System z. The session will look at what IBM is doing and how they do it and the advantages and benefits it experiences.

Next week, the last DancingDinosaur posting before Enterprise 2013 begins will look at some other sessions, including software defined everything and Linux on z.

When DancingDinosaur first started writing about the mainframe over 20 years ago it was a big, powerful (for the time), solid performer that handled a few core tasks, did them remarkably well, and still does so today. At that time even the mainframe’s most ardent supporters didn’t imagine the wide variety of things it does now as can be found at Enterprise 2013.

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About DancingDinosaur author

Alan Radding, the author of DancingDinosaur, is a 20-year IT industry analyst and journalist covering mainframe, midrange, PC, web, and cloud computing. Feel welcome to check out his website -- http://www.technologywriter.com.